PHILADELPHIA — Some of the most coveted swing voters in America are about to head out for Sunday brunch. They have exchanged greetings with neighbors, donated money for the good of others and knelt together in silent prayer.
Here, under the graceful dome of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, they also have been told "not to give up on those Catholic politicians who are not following their faith."
Sen. John F. Kerry's name was never uttered; it didn't have to be. A day earlier, the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer shouted in a headline: "Kerry, cardinal at odds on abortion."
The Roman Catholic Church's public battle with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee over whether he should be given Communion looms as a major challenge facing Kerry as he attempts to appeal to his fellow Catholics.
It also has underscored just how important Catholic voters are likely to be in the 2004 presidential race. In two-thirds of the 17 critical battleground states, more people identify themselves as Catholic than any other faith.
Kerry is slated to become the first Catholic to top a major presidential ticket since John F. Kennedy in 1960. But unlike Kennedy, he is far from a shoo- in for the support of the 63.4 million Americans who share his faith.
Nearly 80% of Catholic voters supported Kennedy, who became America's first Catholic president. Four years later, more than three-quarters of all Catholics backed the presidential run of Lyndon B. Johnson, a Protestant. It was the last time Catholics voted as such a bloc.
"Today, there's an argument to be made that there's no such thing as the Catholic vote," said John Kenneth White, a professor of politics at Catholic University of America. "It looks an awful lot like America."
To see how politically diverse the Catholic vote is now, step into St. Francis de Sales in Philadelphia's University City neighborhood.
It is the spiritual home of Nancy Ruane and Robert A. Brothers, where the parish priest reminded them last Sunday, "If we don't follow [Pope] John Paul II" and his teachings about the evils of abortion, "we don't follow Jesus."
The admonition caused Ruane to poke her husband, Joseph, in annoyance. A Democrat and former public health nurse who attends Mass regularly, she has seen enough botched procedures to be solidly in favor of legalized abortion.
Ruane described Kerry as "a Catholic with a conscience."
